Lanterns in the Desert/Lenten Lectio: Do not put the Lord your God to the test!

Your word is a lantern to my feet
 and a light to my path.

 Psalm 119:105

Our Lenten journey takes place in our desert, that place in our life where we wander and wonder and struggle with who we are and what we are called to be and to do.  It is a place of "testing."   After his baptism, the Spirit led Jesus into the desert where he spent 40 days wandering, wondering, and struggling.  He used the Word of God as his Light and his "Lantern in the Desert."  As we walk with Jesus in the desert carrying our own lanterns to light the path, we deepen our trust in God as we let go of trying to control our lives and make things happen.  We surrender to God.  We are invited to learn how to let God provide for us in our wilderness, just as Jesus did.  

For the next couple of weeks we look at the 2nd temptation of Christ as we expand our Lectio and Labyrinth experience.  This week we engage in Lectio and next week we'll walk the Labyrinth.  

Before we engage in Lectio Divina, or sacred reading, let us focus on God's loving presence by creating and breathing with a Breath Prayer.  Try this one or create one of your own:

Breathing in ... Holy Spirit of Jesus

Breathing out ... Strengthen me in my wilderness

When you are ready to enter into prayer with the text via Lectio Divina, take one last deep breath and pray for illumination of the text:

Holy Spirit, light the candle in my lantern as I read and pray with the Holy Word.  Increase my trust and help me to let go as I listen to the movements of God in my reading and reflection.  Amen.

Step 1:  Read Matthew 4:5-7 (Contemporary English Version) with the "eyes of your heart."   What word or phrase calls for your attention in your reading?  What word or phrase is this week's "lantern in the desert" for you? 

Next, the devil took Jesus to the holy city and had him stand on the highest part of the temple. The devil said, “If you are God’s Son, jump off. The Scriptures say:

‘God will give his angels orders about you.
They will catch you in their arms,
and you won’t hurt your feet on the stones.’”

Jesus answered, 

“The Scriptures also say, ‘Don’t try to test the Lord your God!’”

Step 2:  Read the passage again and Reflect ...
How does your lantern in the desert illuminate your life and the temptations you encounter in your desire to control your own identity and the vision you have of your life?  How are you being invited to more deeply trust in God's will and provision?

Step 3:  Read the passage again and Respond ...
What do you say to God about the insights you have discerned in your reading and reflection?   How do you pray when you consider how you are being invited to leave your life and your future in God's hands?

Step 4:  Rest ...
Come to a place of silence within yourself and just "be" with God.  Try for 10 minutes or beyond. When you are ready to move on,  pray:  

Holy Spirit, lead me deeper into a wandering wilderness this Lenten season but boldly light a Lantern in the Desert so that I may find my way with you.  Help me to know who I am as a creation of God and how I can surrender my plans in order to embrace the plans God has for me.   Amen.

If art is a pathway to God for you, you may want to gaze upon this image ...and engage in visio divina ...

The Life of Jesus Christ by James Tissot:Temptation of Jesus Christ, Brooklyn Museum, in public domain

Read the Image ... Allow your eyes to seek softly what you are attracted to in the image.  Simply receive the gift of seeing.  What image within the image is drawing you in ... Allow yourself a few moments simply to sit with this gift.

Receive the Image ... Take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a receptive spirit.  After receiving, close your eyes and reflect by allowing your imagination to form that image in your consciousness ... what are you receiving from God through the image?  How does this illuminate your life right now?

Respond to God ... Now take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a grateful spirit.  How do you sense yourself desiring to respond to God through the image you have received?  What would you say to God about what you are hearing, seeing, feeling?  Allow yourself to pray with gratitude ... 

Rest in God ... Now take a deep breath and rest ... notice how your body feels.  Is there something more here?  Then go back and repeat your "gazing" prayer.   If you feel that you have received all you need in this moment, simply rest in the silence and come to a place of shalom, peace, wholeness ... 

To end your time of Visio Divina ... Join Jesus in lifting up his Lantern in the Desert:

“The Scriptures also say, ‘Don’t try to test the Lord your God!’”

Lanterns in the Desert/Lenten Lectio: One does not Live by Bread Alone

Your word is a lantern to my feet
 and a light to my path.

 Psalm 119:105

Every year we begin our Lenten journey in the desert with Jesus as he encounters the devil for a time of temptation, or perhaps better translated for our understanding as "testing."  Jesus is tested in 3 different ways and each time he uses the Word of God as his Light and his "Lantern in the Desert."   The desert, or the wilderness, is a spiritual place of coming to know ourselves, of preparing, of getting ready for the next step in our journey. It is a place where we learn to trust God for there really is nowhere else to put our trust.  Jesus is tempted to turn away from trust in God to embrace trust in himself.  If we are going to learn to put our trust in God, we also must struggle with these same tests and challenges to our trust in God provision.  

For the next couple of weeks we look at the 1st temptation of Christ as we expand our Lectio and Labyrinth experience.  This week we engage in Lectio and next week we'll walk the Labyrinth.  

Before we engage in Lectio Divina, or sacred reading, let us focus on God's loving presence by creating and breathing with a Breath Prayer.  Try this one or create one of your own:

Breathing in ... Holy Spirit
Breathing out ... Strengthen me

When you are ready to enter into prayer with the text via Lectio Divina, take one last deep breath and pray for illumination of the text:  Holy Spirit, light the candle in my lantern as I read and pray with the Holy Word.  Increase my trust as I listen to the movements of God in my reading and reflection.  Amen.

Step 1:  Read Matthew 4:1-4 (Contemporary English Version) with the "eyes of your heart."   What word or phrase calls for your attention in your reading?  What word or phrase is this week's "lantern in the desert" for you? 


The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert, so that the devil could test him. After Jesus had gone without eating for forty days and nights, he was very hungry. Then the devil came to him and said, “If you are God’s Son, tell these stones to turn into bread.”  

Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say: ‘No one can live only on food. 

People need every word that God has spoken.’”

Step 2:  Read the passage again and Reflect ...
How does your lantern in the desert illuminate your life and the temptations you encounter in your hungers and appetites?  How is God inviting you to deepen your trust?

Step 3:  Read the passage again and Respond ...
What do you say to God about the insights you have discerned in your reading and reflection?   How do you pray when you consider how you are being invited to trust in God more deeply?

Step 4:  Rest ...
Come to a place of silence within yourself and just "be" with God.  Try for 10 minutes or beyond. When you are ready to move on,  pray:  

Holy Spirit, lead me deeper into a wandering wilderness this Lenten season but boldly light a Lantern in the Desert so that I may find my way with you.  Amen.

If art is a pathway to God for you, you may want to gaze upon this image ...and engage in visio divina ...

By William Hole [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 Read the Image ... Allow your eyes to seek softly what you are attracted to in the image.  Simply receive the gift of seeing.  What image within the image is drawing you in ... Allow yourself a few moments simply to sit with this gift.

Receive the Image ... Take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a receptive spirit.  After receiving, close your eyes and reflect by allowing your imagination to form that image in your consciousness ... what are you receiving from God through the image?  How does this illuminate your life right now?

Respond to God ... Now take a deep breath and gaze with soft eyes and a grateful spirit.  How do you sense yourself desiring to respond to God through the image you have received?  What would you say to God about what you are hearing, seeing, feeling?  Allow yourself to pray with gratitude ... 

Rest in God ... Now take a deep breath and rest ... notice how your body feels.  Is there something more here?  Then go back and repeat your "gazing" prayer.   If you feel that you have received all you need in this moment, simply rest in the silence and come to a place of shalom, peace, wholeness ... 

To end your time of Visio Divina ... Join Jesus in lifting up his Lantern in the Desert:

“The Scriptures say: ‘No one can live only on food. 

People need every word that God has spoken.’”

Lenten Journey of Discipleship: Led by the Spirit into Wilderness

Lent is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for “new life” on Easter Sunday.  During the season of Lent we are invited to look deep within ourselves to consider our spiritual lives and how we fall short of what God intends for us.  Lent is a time when we commit ourselves to change and new beginnings.   Lent can be a time for concentrating on the Journey of Discipleship through contemplative/reflective prayer practices such as Lectio Divina, Breath Prayers, Centering Prayer and Walking the Labyrinth …

After Jesus was baptized, he was led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God to face temptation. As we prepare our hearts to read and pray the scriptures, let us remember Jesus.  Jesus struggled just like we do.  Remember that the Spirit was with him and is always with us in our struggles too.  Even if we don't feel the presence of God, God is there.

Just like Jesus began his ministry with baptism, our Journey of Discipleship begins with our baptism.  For those of us baptized as babies perhaps our journey is ignited in confirmation as we join the church ... or before!  It may be that we wandered away and our faith needed to be re-awakened.  Do you remember your baptism or your confirmation or simply the time your spiritual life was awakened or re-awakened?  How did your life change when you began to seek God in earnest?  

As our Lenten Journey of Discipleship begins let us breathe a gentle breath prayer.

Use this one or allow one to emerge from within your own spirit ...

Breathe in … Holy Spirit (pause)  
Breath out … Come to Me (pause) 

When you are ready to move into the text, use this Spirit Prayer ... 

Holy Spirit, Come to Me.

Kindle in Me

the Fire of your Love.

Holy Spirit, Come to Me. Amen.

Read Luke 4:1-13 with the "ear of your heart" using Lectio Divina, during which you will breathe deeply and listen carefully to this poignant experience of Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, as he struggles in the wilderness.  Whether you believe the "devil" is a little red figure on his shoulder or if you believe the struggle is more of an "inner" struggle with evil ... God can speak to your heart as you read and lead you as you need to be led on your journey.

1. Lectio (Read) the actual reading of the sacred text ... Read slowly and pay attention in order to "receive" a word or a phrase as you read.

Jesus returned from the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. There he was tempted for forty days by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and afterward Jesus was starving. The devil said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”  Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread.”  Next the devil led him to a high place and showed him in a single instant all the kingdoms of the world. The devil said, “I will give you this whole domain and the glory of all these kingdoms. It’s been entrusted to me and I can give it to anyone I want. Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.”  Jesus answered, “It’s written, You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”  The devil brought him into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here; for it’s written: He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”  Jesus answered, “It’s been said, Don’t test the Lord your God.”  After finishing every temptation, the devil departed from him until the next opportunity. 

 2. Meditatio (Meditation) reflecting or pondering upon the words of the sacred text.  Read the text again and when a word or phrase captures your attention, stop and sit with it.  Note: It may the same word but it also may be a different word.  Take the word and turn it over in your mind, think about where this word speaks to your life circumstances and your spiritual journey right now.

3. Oratio (Prayer) spontaneous movement of the will in response to reflections.  Read the text through to the end again.  How are you moved to respond to God?   Allow your prayers to flow from your time with God.

4. Contemplatio (Contemplation) resting in the presence of God... Simply be still.  Simply rest in the silence within yourself. 

When you are ready to move on, pray again this Spirit Prayer:

Holy Spirit, Come to Me.

Kindle in Me

the Fire of your Love.

Holy Spirit, Come to Me. Amen.

Close your time of praying with Scripture by listening this song 

that emerges from the community of Taize in France ... Holy Spirit Come to Us